Page 14 - AHATA

Thursday 31 July 2025 locAl
A10

Another Treasure of Aruba’s Beaches: Sea Glass!

NOORD - It is hard to imag-
ine this happening today,
but years ago people
dumped all kinds of refuse
straight into the ocean,
including old cars, and
their household garbage,
which of course included
lots of glass. Over the next
30 years the pounding
waves cleaned the beach,
by breaking down every- and interesting process. It gems. beach has its own story. family day!
thing but glass and pot- can take anywhere from Even if we didn’t mean to
tery. The pounding waves 10 to 30 years to make sea For years, the water beat The ruby red glass stones pollute the Beaches how
washed the trash up and glass. The name for any against the different kinds are typically from old car we did, it is inspiring to see
down, back and forth. Tons piece of glass that finds its of trash being dumped. tail-lights. just how the earth can cor-
of polished, broken glass way to the ocean and tum- Glass, household appli- rect our mistakes.
pieces were created by bles around in the water ances and even motor Then, the sapphire rocks
the pounding surf. These long enough is “Sea glass. parts were discarded on are the remnants of bro- Funny, how trash can
smoothened, colored glass the beach. The waves and ken apothecary bottles. change into treasures!
particles then settled along The colorful pieces of glass weather conditions wore The most common and
the sea shore in millions, are being used for decora- down the overwhelming the easiest to find are the Everybody knows that you
and that is why you can tion, handcrafts and jew- amount of garbage in the brown (Amstel & Polar are not allowed to take
find these beautiful and elry! water, creating millions of beer), green (Heineken local shells home, but the
colorful pieces on the north Once glass makes its way beautiful smooth rocks. & Balashi beer) and clear people working at the air-
shore beaches of Aruba. into the ocean, the glass is glass which are the soft port have no problem you
broken up into shards and is It’s hard to believe the much loved “soft drink” taking sea glass home. A
Especially on the strip on tumbled around in the wa- short-sighted mistakes we bottles. few of those pieces make
white sand between the fa- ter, where sand and other were making that could great souvenirs. You can
mous Natural Bridge” and rocks act like sandpaper to have potentially ruined If you like to see the sea place them in a wine glass
the huge red anchor close smooth out its rough edges. these beautiful beaches. glass for yourself, and be or large bottle for decora-
to “Grapefield” beach you Sometimes as the sea glass But thanks to natural pro- in awe of the power of na- tion and every time you
will be able to find your own is passed through fire, it be- cesses, the ocean trans- ture, rent a car or jeep and look at it a smile will light up
pieces of sea glass. The sea comes fire glass, the rarest formed the trash into the go explore our deserted your face thinking back of
glass that was created is of sea glass with certain sea glass. beaches on the north side your unforgettable Aruba
the product of a very long inclusions, just like precious Each colored gem on the of the island. Make it a fun vacation! q

Aruba’s neighborhoods; the meaning behind their names

Just like any other coun- of a cassava”. by both locals and tourists.
try, Aruba has unique and
beautifully named neigh- If one assumes that the ac- Angochi
borhoods that all form a tual word heard was Ana- This name can be seen
part of its culture and de- boio instead, consisting of on the Werbata map with
velopment. Many of these Ana meaning the best and little and cursive letters. It is
names have a historical Boio (bohio); house, the it- the unofficial name for the
background and meaning eration of Anabui would area given by a tenant to
that teaches us about the mean “the best house.” This the land that was rented to
island and its rich culture is the origin that has been him.
every day. more or less speculated
and assumed for the word The biggest probability that
With this series, we want Anabui and it’s meaning. historians believe is that
to take you on a journey During the second world it comes from native de-
of discovery, where you’ll war and later, this area was scent, during the time in
learn not only the beautiful living on the island. In the Ana meaning flower or the used as a terrain for training the 19th century where
names but the history be- Arawak/Taino language best and Iboa; the juice of of shooting by militia and Mestizos still lived on Aruba.
hind it that gives it life and one can find the word a cassava, which together latero n Korps Mariniers (the The name can’t really be
meaning. Anaiboa, which consists of would mean “the best juice marines of Aruba). By the explain and according to
end of the previous century books on its history seems
Anabui/Tierra Del Sol a large part of Anabui was to be more of a sign of cor-
This neighborhood can be developed to have luxuri- ruption.
seen on Van Raders map ous villas and a golf course,
and Werbata as Anna which lead to it getting the However, it seems to come
Boei. Anna Boei is a name name Tierra Del Sol, Span- from combining A(n), which
of which there isn’t much ish for Land of the Sun. is a generalizing prefix and
information about its origin. The name is not an official Goeiza, which means ‘the
The best historians were name, but the name of the spirit of a living man’. An-
able to deduce is that this development proyect that gochi remains more of a
name came to be be- took place. It is hoped that guess.
cause of a miscommunica- the original and ‘old’ name
tion between Van Spengler of Anabui is never lost and This neighborhood’s abbre-
and the natives who were now it will be remembered viation is; An.q